


The Bad Guy

by MaggieDerrick



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Childhood Trauma, Comfort/Angst, F/F, Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Minor Catra/Scorpia (She-Ra), POV Catra (She-Ra), Scorptra, Trauma, catradora, happy for now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaggieDerrick/pseuds/MaggieDerrick
Summary: A terrible decision earns Catra an even worse punishment. Left to suffer the consequences, Catra finds herself facing one burning question: do you get to have a happy ending when you're the bad guy?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn’t a ship fic so much as it’s a character piece on Catra. That said, there’s both Catradora and Scorptra throughout.
> 
> This was written before S3. I imagine it taking place some time after S2e5, “White Out”.
> 
> CONTENT WARNINGS: physical abuse mention, emotional abuse/manipulation, trauma recovery, blood, bullying, violence, strong language, mild sexual content (no explicit sex on page)
> 
> Story is also cross-posted on Wattpad (star-powered)

Catra was tired of waiting, but that didn't mean she was going to stop.

She had been lounging in a tree for hours, her limbs dangling languidly from a branch. Her tail flicked back and forth with increasing agitation. But as bored as she was, she wasn't going to do anything about it. Not yet, anyway. She was committed, at least until sundown. She would stay because, if the payoff came, it would be worth it. 

It didn't matter that it was a terrible idea. It didn't matter that she was here to do a very stupid thing. She had been doing that stupid thing for weeks.

Or at least she had been trying to. The thing itself had only happened a couple times. But did that make it less stupid?

Catra sighed. She blinked her dual-coloured eyes and peered between the leafy canopy down to the sheltered clearing below. It was still empty, she was still alone.

The tight ball of nerves she usually carried in her stomach when she made the trek to this forgotten edge of the Whispering Woods–a part that had been spared in the Battle of Bright Moon, but had lost its ability to shift its landscape–had started to unravel after an hour of two. With the relief of these anxieties, Catra found she could relax a little bit. And as she relaxed, her mind began to wander.

The stupid thing was this: she and Adora had been meeting in secret. They had been sneaking off to this mystery oasis to be together. 

It had started completely by accident; innocuous and unplanned. Catra had been scouting, trying to see what remained of the woods with her own eyes, when Adora found her. The pair had pushed through the dense underbrush at precisely the same moment, stumbling into a clearing filled with warm fragrant air and gently dappled sunlight, as if into a dream. That first moment was surreal for both of them, and they had hovered in the surprise of finding the other there, alone.

Of course, that hazy moment didn't last for long. The two launched at one another—as had become their destiny, it seemed—sparring with both their words and their fists. Adora hadn't used the sword or She-Ra against her. Perhaps that's why they wound up falling into one another – from throwing each other around in rage to throwing themselves down together. Into the grass, and into each other's arms; it was difficult to tell where fury ended and desire began. 

That first meeting was fast and furious; all angry kisses and hands everywhere, sliding beneath hems and fingers knotted in hair. When it was over, they parted in silence without speaking about what they'd done or what it meant for them going forward.

It was a terrible, stupid thing, and Catra had enjoyed every second of it.

That's why she kept coming back.

Most evenings she spent the hours alone. The first time she returned, Catra knew she was being foolish, that she was desperate. She didn't really believe Adora would return, but that didn't stop her from being hurt when she turned out to be right.

And still she came back, night after night. Three days later, she was ready to call it quits–to chalk it all up to a single carnal and fabulous nightmare–when the sound of footsteps over fallen foliage announced Adora's arrival. Their eyes met. They didn't speak. They didn't need to.

They both knew why they were there.

There was no promise Adora would come tonight, but Catra deeply hoped she would. She needed her to – she needed her. The memory of Adora's lips and the taste of her skin came back to her almost palpably, sending a quiver through her body and igniting heat at her core. Catra was just sinking into a particularly luscious reverie when her sensitive ears picked up the subtle snap of a twig being crushed beneath a boot. 

Instincts kicked in. Catra twisted on the branch and adopted an aggressive stance. She sniffed the air until she caught the scent – it was her. 

She waited, breathless, until she saw Adora breaking through the trees. Her steps were cautious, and her steel-blue eyes scanned the clearing. A thrill chased its way up from Catra's stomach as she watched. There was something exhilarating about knowing it was her Adora was searching for.

Catra let the moment drag on, drinking in the tonic of being wanted a little longer. Then, when she saw Adora's eager expression falter, Catra shifted and plotted how best to leap to the ground for maximum dramatic effect.

"Adora! Adora, wait up!"

Catra froze. On the ground, Adora whirled around and looked back at where she'd come from. Each from their own vantage points, they fixed their gaze on the underbrush and watched in silent mortification as both Glimmer and Bow crashed through the trees and into the clearing; their oasis a secret no longer. Catra cursed under her breath, slinking back on the branch and further into the cover of the leaves. She berated herself for having been so caught up in Adora that she failed to realize the scents of other people were indeed mingling in the air, the clumsy sounds of pursuit echoing between the trees.

"What are you guys doing here?" Adora asked, her voice an octave too high to sound believably normal. 

"We were wondering the same thing about you." Glimmer answered. She was smiling, but the expression itself was strained – anxiety tainting her attempt at appearing nonplussed. "This place is a long way from Bright Moon. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, sure! I was just looking for a quiet place to train."

Bow stepped into the middle of the clearing and turned slowly in place. "Why here? Don't you usually train at the beacon?"

Catra shuddered. The beacon – that miserable hellscape of First Ones tech. Every time she was reminded of the way it harvested her own memories to use against her—the way it stirred up vivid vignettes from her depressing childhood, with all its inadequacy and abuse—she felt ashamed and angry.

"Sometimes that place is too much," Adora admitted with a shrug. "Sometimes I just need a quiet place to go and swing the sword around, y'know?"

"Not really. But then again, I'm not the She-Ra." Glimmer stepped up and placed a hand on Adora's arm. From her hiding place, Catra bristled. "Can we help?"

No, you can't, Catra thought bitterly. Send them away, Adora. Tell them to get lost.

Back on the ground, Adora's gaze darted from tree to tree. She was searching for Catra again, but there was no way for her to signal she was there, waiting.

The moment hung as Adora considered. Catra held her breath. 

But then Adora gave her best friends—her new ones, of course—a warm and gracious smile.

"Okay, why not?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Yes!" Bow punched a fist skyward, which he then stretched behind him to pluck an arrow from his quiver. "Wanna work on some target practice?"

In her perch, Catra seethed. So fiery was her rage that it was a wonder the tree beneath her didn't go up in flames.

How could she? This is our place. And now she's just going to let them in here?

As far as Catra was concerned, the clearing was sacred ground. The ghosts of their meetings lingered in that space, and to have them disrupted by the likes of Glimmer and Bow, of all people, was almost more than she could bear. Catra added this transgression to Adora's already long list of betrayals.

Meanwhile, Adora was already laughing with her friends. Catra sneered as she watched them jostle playfully. Not that long ago it would have been her shoulders that Adora's strong, protective arm was draped over, not Glimmer's. It would have been her, not Bow, on the receiving end of Adora's brilliant smile. She wondered if it would ever stop hurting, knowing how easily she had been replaced.

"Okay, are you ready?" Adora asked, reaching back behind her head.

Bow grinned in reply. "You know it."

Off to the side, Glimmer dropped down in the grass. She crossed her legs and leaned back, planting her hands in the grass behind her. Catra's glare burned into the princess with a savage intensity she hoped Glimmer could feel. But judging by the contented smile on her face, it didn't seem to be working.

With a powerful swing of her arm, Adora raised the Sword of Protection over her head as she called out the five words that changed everything.

"For the honour of Grayskull!"

Catra flinched back from the flash of magical light that followed. The radiance of the transformation was hard to look at, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the result. When the glow faded, She-Ra stood in Adora's place, all golden hair and towering muscle. For all the ways Catra longed for Adora, she loathed the Princess of Power. She-Ra stood like the pinnacle of light and justice she was, and it made Catra want to vomit. Or break something. Quite possibly both.

"Woo!" Glimmer hooted from her seat on the ground. "Let's go, She-Ra! Let's go!" She punctuated each syllable with a clap of her hands.

"Oh, give me a break," Catra hissed. She curled her twitching tail in closer so it wouldn't accidentally rustle her leafy camouflage and inched back along the branch. It would be too risky to try to sneak off with all three members of the Best Losers Squad right there. If she had to keep hiding in this dumb tree, she figured she may as well spy so the evening wasn't a total loss.

She-Ra planted her feet squarely on one end of the clearing, only a handful of paces from Catra's tree. Bow claimed the other side and, without a word of warning, let an arrow fly. Not that She-Ra needed a heads-up – with an effortless swing of her sword she knocked the pointed projectile right out of the air, even managing to spare it in the process. Again and again, arrows flew faster and faster. And every time, She-Ra knocked them aside like they were nothing more that pesky insects. Catra tapped a clawed fingertip to her lips; She-Ra was getting faster. It looks like there'd be more training in her future if she wanted to keep her edge.

Glimmer let out a satisfied sigh. Her glittering eyes tracked the arc of each arrow.

"Now this is a much better use of my time," she said.

"As opposed to what?" She-Ra asked, launching forward to chop at another arrow. This one didn't survive her swing. "Sorry, Bow!"

"As opposed to sitting through another lecture from my mom."

"What happened this time?"

"Ugh, nothing!" Glimmer threw her hands up and let herself flop back onto the grass. "It's always the same thing – she says she trusts me to lead the rebellion, but you wouldn't know if by the way she nags me sometimes."

She-Ra struck a pair of closely spaced arrows with a dexterous twist. "But she's not really mad at you." Another arrow, another swipe. "You know she's just nagging because she loves you. She worries."

Glimmer shimmied up onto her elbows, looking bashful. "Yeah. I know..."

"I wish I'd grown up with someone nagging at me," She-Ra continued. It was clear from her casual tone that she wasn't trying to be condescending – more than anything, she was just talking out loud. "It's way better than the alternative."

Lowering his namesake, Bow held She-Ra in a caring gaze. "Was there a lot of the, uh, alternative growing up with the Horde?"

"Sort of." She-ra dropped her eyes and focused on the blade of her sword. "I guess it kind of depended."

"On what?"

"On who was the one in trouble," Catra whispered to herself. Her claws dug reflexively into the tree's bark as she shook her head, trying to dislodge the memories of what She-Ra wasn't bold enough to say out loud. In the Horde, there was no one worrying about your safety – there was only disappointment, and the punishment that came with it. 

Not that She-Ra had any idea about just how bad it could really be. She had never been on the receiving end of Shadow Weaver's fury. She had never missed days of training to heal after beatings so fierce she couldn't even get out of bed. Until recently, Adora hadn't even known what it was like to have their de facto guardian's dark magic coursing through her system.

But Catra did.

When She-ra didn't answer, Glimmer got to her feet. "Whatever they did to you... You know it wasn't your fault, right?"

"Oh, I know." She-Ra forced a laugh. She looked up at her friends and smiled. "I mean, it definitely could have been worse. I didn't have it as bad as–"

She froze. Bow and Glimmer did too. The three of them held their breath in uncomfortable silence.

Don't you dare, Catra thought. Her hair bristled and her heart raced. Don't you fucking dare.

She knew the name on She-Ra's tongue. They all did. That's why the air in the clearing was so thick with tension Catra thought she might choke.

You don't get to tell them my story.

There was a rustling in the leaves somewhere to Catra's left. Her ears quirked and she checked her tail just to be sure her anger hadn't gotten the better of her.

In the split second her eyes were trained away from the clearing, something crashed through the boughs. Before she could react, Catra found herself encircled in netting and pulled from the tree.

She fell. 

And she hit the ground. Hard.


	3. Chapter 3

It took a moment for Catra to register what happened. The impact of the fall left stars flickering in the corners of her vision and a ringing in her ears. She almost always landed on her feet, so this was as devastating to her ego as it was to her body.

Peering up, she found herself surrounded. Glimmer's shimmering hands were raised, Bow had a fresh arrow notched and aimed, and She-Ra stared down the blade of her sword that was aimed directly in Catra's face.

"Hey! Watch where you point that thing!"

"What are you doing here?" Glimmer asked, a glower of distaste on her soft, round face.

Catra hated her so, so much. 

But where Glimmer couldn't help but wear her heart on her sleeve, Catra knew she had to keep her loathing simmering just under the surface. Even tangled in what she now realized was one of Bow's specialized arrow-cast nets, she would have the upper hand so long as she kept her cool.

With a practiced air of indifference, Catra rolled her face away from Glimmer. The princess fumed at having been ignored. Instead, Catra homed in on She-Ra and flashed her a pointed grin.

"Hey, Adora."

She-Ra tensed. A flush of heat flooded her cheeks. Catra loved that blush, especially when she was the reason for it.

"Hey!" Glimmer said, flustered for a different reason entirely. "I was talking to you!"

"Oh, I know," Catra drawled. She kept her eyes on She-Ra. "I just don't care."

Glimmer growled in what Catra could only assume was meant to be an intimidating way, but it was hard to take her seriously under all that sparkle. Bow placed a steady hand on his friend's shoulder and pulled her back a step. "She's just messing with you, Glimmer. Don't let her into your head."

Catra laughed, mean and merciless. These idiots were lucky she couldn't get into their heads. The chaos she would cause if she could would be fantastic.

"Stop it, Catra." She-Ra had regained her composure. Sword at the ready, her expression was stony. To anyone else, she probably looked stoic. But even in this form, Catra knew her better; she could see the internal struggle playing out behind those brilliant, glowing blue eyes.

"Why don't you come down here and make me?" Catra purred. A flash of indecision danced across She-Ra's face.

"Cut it out, Catra." This time it was Bow who stepped in to play peacemaker. But unlike Glimmer, he was gentle in his demand, and Catra bristled at his softness. "Why are you here?"

Again, Catra turned her eyes to She-Ra. "Gee, I dunno. Hey, Adora, why am I here?"

And, again, colour bloomed across She-Ra's face. She shook her head, as if Catra's teasing was a fog she was trying to fight her way out of.

Still draped in the net, Catra squirmed up onto her knees. She smirked at Glimmer and Bow, feeling elated and triumphant despite her position of submission. It was so easy to break these fools that it almost felt unfair.

Almost, but not really.

Out of the corner of her eyes, something flashed. She turned her head just in time to see She-Ra launch a fist forward. From it whipped a rope of solid gold. Before Catra could process what this meant, the rope wrapped around her shoulders like a lasso and tightened. In the time it took Catra to let out an indignant squawk, She-Ra had wound the sword-turned-binding around her entirely. The net had been one thing–a temporary inconvenience that Catra's claws would have eventually made quick work of as soon as she was tired of messing around. But there was no scratching her way through of the Sword of Protection. She was trapped.

"What the fuck, Adora?" she hissed as both Glimmer and Bow gasped in unison.

Something about She-Ra's expression was different now. The indecision, the flustered confusion under a mask of seriousness, was gone. Now, as She-Ra looked down at Catra, she did so with nothing but pity.

"You shouldn't be here, Catra."

The world seemed to spin. Memories flashed across Catra's mind in quick succession: Adora's lips moving over hers, kissing her as if the secret to ever-lasting life rested beneath Catra's tongue. The way Adora had backed her against a tree and grabbed at her hips with greedy hands, hitching her higher so she could wedge her thigh between Catra's legs. Delicious friction in all the right places. With a rush of humiliation, Catra remembered the way she had cried out for her, and the wiley way she had bucked and thrashed under the spell of Adora's touch.

Though she would have denied it to anyone, those meetings had meant something to Catra. And by the way Adora kissed her, the way she had held her and murmured her name against her throat, Catra had let herself believe it had meant something to Adora too.

Yet here they were, face-to-face at the scene of their crimes, with Adora pretending they hadn't both come here for the exact same reason.

White hot shame chased its way up from Catra's gut. She gritted her teeth and growled; menacing in a way that Glimmer could only dream of being.

"Fuck you, Adora." 

If this phased She-Ra, she didn't let it show. Instead, she turned to Glimmer and Bow. "We should bring her back with us."

The bottom dropped out of Catra's stomach. Despite still being on her knees, she felt like she was plummeting.

"To Bright Moon?" Glimmer looked dumbstruck. "You mean, like a prisoner?"

"That's a terrible idea." Bow stepped forward, frantically waving his hands as if that was enough to call this entire thing off. "We tried that once, remember? It didn't end well."

She-Ra lifted her chin, her gaze fixed with defiance. "This time will be different. We don't need to use her for leverage."

Bow threw his hands up in the air. "Then why take her at all? The Rebellion doesn't take prisoners."

"Think about it," She-Ra said. "If the Hoard doesn't have Catra, they lose one of their biggest advantages over us."

Glimmer crossed her arms and raised a skeptical brow. "You mean their biggest advantage over you?"

She-Ra pursed her lips. She didn't reply, but she didn't need to; they all knew Glimmer was right.

Still on her knees, Catra thought she was going to be sick. Had this been Adora's plan all along? Were those meetings between them nothing more than her way of getting Catra to drop her defenses?

Had it been a trap all along?

Hot tears filled Catra's eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of these people–in front of She-Ra– but she was overcome. Catra dipped her head forward, letting her mess of unkempt hair hide her face, and screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

Catra screamed until her lungs ached. It was the only thing that felt good or right in that moment, as if by doing so she was exorcising her anger and grief like ghosts. She paused just long enough to draw in a raspy breath, and then started again.

"Ah, no!" Bow cried, dashing forward and pressing a hand over Catra's mouth to muffle her screams. "Stop, stop, stop!"

Catra reacted instinctively by sinking her fangs into the soft flesh of his palm. Squeaking in fright and pain, Bow fell back and scampered away. 

"How could I forget about the biting?" he whimpered, cradling his hand gingerly.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Catra shrieked. All thoughts of keeping her cool were gone. She fought against her binding, struggling to free herself from the sword's magic.

"Take it easy," She-Ra said, her voice low and soft. She knelt in front of Catra and reached a tentative hand toward her like the frantic and cornered animal she was. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"Give me a break." Catra snapped at She-Ra's hand, narrowly missing her fingertips. "Quit acting like you give a shit."

Glimmer, who was gently examining Bow's hand, shot the pair of them a withering glare. "I don't think this is such a good idea, Adora. Bow's right – if we're not going to use her for leverage, why risk bringing her with us?"

"I told you, we need to get her away from the Horde." She-Ra said this to Glimmer, but she kept her eyes on Catra.

"And do what with her, exactly?" Glimmer asked, still unconvinced. "It's not like she's going to join the Rebellion. She's the bad guy!"

Glimmer's words settled over Catra like a dark and violent storm cloud. Everything around her seemed to fade to black until all that remained was that simple, reductive phrase: the bad guy.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Catra's voice cracked ever so slightly. "This was a trap all along, wasn't it?"

She-Ra flinched back, looking stung. "Catra, no. That's not..."

But she couldn't finish. Silence hardened between them into a wall of stone.

"Adora?" Bow ventured, his voice high and cautious. "What is she talking about? What was a trap?"

She-Ra hesitated. Her eyes darted from Catra to Bow and back again.

"C'mon, princess," Catra hissed. "The man asked you a question."

"There was no trap," She-Ra said. "That's not what this is about."

"That's not an answer, Adora. Tell them the real reason you're here. Tell them why I'm here."

"Don't–"

Catra bore her fangs in a snarl.

"You fucking coward." She lifted her head and looked Bow right in the eyes, fighting through her instinct to hide her tears. No one was ever supposed to see her weak this way. "Adora and I have been meeting here in secret to hook-up."

It was as if her words carried a physical force – She-Ra, Glimmer, and Bow all gaped back at her like she had slapped them hard across the face. Catra took what pleasure she could from their gobsmacked expressions, but it was short-lived. Even though it was exactly what she'd wanted, Catra couldn't ignore the tiny, quiet voice of guilt that cried out in the back of her brain at the look of hurt and betrayal on She-Ra's face. If their meetings had meant anything before, they certainly didn't now. Catra had made sure of it.

"Adora..." Glimmer gazed at her friend in confusion. "Is that true?"

She-Ra swallowed and gave a single, stilted nod. "Yes."

"But, why?" Bow asked.

"Oh, please," Catra scoffed. She tossed her head back, throwing her hair away from her face. She was in this now. She didn't need her claws to do damage, and she wanted to witness every second of the carnage she was sowing. "Don't act so surprised. You two clearly knew something was up. Why else would you follow her all the way out to the middle of nowhere?"

"We were worried about her," Glimmer shot back. "We wanted to make sure she was okay. That's what good friends do."

"Glimmer, stop." She-Ra sounded as mortified as she looked. 

It was a low blow on Glimmer's part. For the leader of an alliance that fought for all things good and just, she could be quite the savage when she put her mind to it.

Catra didn't mind, though. When it came to fighting low and dirty, no one did it better than she did. A life spent being told you were no better than dirt had a way of doing that to a person.

"Or maybe you thought she was leaving you." Catra narrowed her eyes, locking them onto She-Ra's and holding her gaze. "After all, she's got a pretty shitty track record."

Glittering tears slid down She-Ra's perfect face. She didn't try to hide them, didn't wipe them away.

"Why are you always so mean?"

It was almost too much. Catra started to laugh and quickly discovered she couldn't stop. It was as if the pain had finally driven her over the edge, straight into madness.

"Why am I mean? C'mon, Adora. You heard little miss sparkles – I'm the bad guy."

She-Ra was still weeping, and it infuriated Catra to see how beautiful she was, even in tears. "Catra, that's not true."

"Of course it is!" Catra shouted right in her face, but She-Ra didn't flinch. "It's always been true and you know it! Why else did I have to spend my entire life having the shit kicked out of me? While you were busy being Shadow Weaver's golden girl, she didn't miss a chance to tell me what a useless waste of space I am. While you were getting special treatment, I was getting beaten up just for breathing your precious air."

Now they were both crying – deep, ugly sobs that racked their lungs and clawed at their throats. At last, She-Ra dropped her head, cradling her face in her hands as her shoulders shook. For a few moments, their weeping was the only sound in that small, cursed clearing.

Glimmer and Bow exchanged horrified glances. 

"We didn't know any of that," Bow said in a hushed voice. He crouched down at She-Ra's side, resting one hand on her back as he reached tentatively toward Catra with the other. "I'm sorry, that must have been really difficult for you."

Disgusted, Catra recoiled with a hiss. 

Glimmer stepped forward to She-Ra's other side. She too joined the others on the ground, wrapped an arm lovingly over the still-teary princess' shoulders, and looked at Catra. "I'm sorry I was so hard on you before. Maybe it would be a good idea for you to come back with us after all."

Catra couldn't believe what she was witnessing. Did they really think any of this was going to work? 

"I don't fucking think so," she snarled. "There is no way I'm going anywhere with you."

"Catra, come on," Bow pleaded. "I'm sure you'll warm up to us if you give us a chance. If Adora believes in you, so can we."

Catra considered spitting in his eye.

"And besides," Glimmer chimed in, though there was no question that it was a stretch for her to match Bow's genuine empathy. "No one will hurt you in Bright Moon. It'll take some getting used to, but it'll be way better than going back to the Fright Zone."

"Are you seriously that dense?" Catra began to squirm again, twisting against her magical bonds. "I don't care if you believe in me or whatever, I'm not going back with you."

"But why?" Glimmer demanded with thinly veiled exasperation.

"Because you two fucking took everything from me!" Again, Catra's words were like well-aimed gut punches. "And it doesn't matter if I'm in the Fright Zone or Bright Moon, nothing is ever going back to the way it was." She grunted and flexed her fingers. She flailed and swore. "So just let me go already!"

In a swift and fluid motion, She-Ra sat up and reached out. Her fist clenched the rope twisted around Catra's body and used it to drag her forward. Glimmer and Bow fell back in surprise as She-Ra pulled Catra up to face her. Catra's mind raced for one more cutting remark, something cruel and stinging to hurt them one last time.

But she didn't get the chance. She opened her mouth to speak, lips parting in a growl, just as She-Ra's fabulous glow flashed and faded. Adora sat in the dimness she left behind, still painfully lovely despite her blotchy red face and watery eyes. Catra blinked back at her, acid words temporarily forgotten.

And in that dazzling moment, Adora pulled Catra closer still, and kissed her one more time.


	5. Chapter 5

Breaking from Adora's kiss was like being dragged into wakefulness from the sweetest of dreams. First, there was a moment that seemed to stretch beyond logic; the warmth and comfort of Adora's lips, the heat of their bodies pressed in close. Then there was the sound of Glimmer and Bow, gasping as one, sounding the alarm. Catra's eyes snapped open when she remembered they weren't alone. She tried to pull back, but Adora's hands clasped either side of her face and kept her close.

"Please, Catra," Adora whispered against her mouth. "Come with me." She pushed the fingers of one hand into the downy soft hair behind Catra's ear. It was a tender act of affection that would have left Catra weak at the knees had she not already been kneeling on them. "Come with me to Bright Moon and join the Rebellion. We can start over together."

It was at that moment that Catra realized the sword was gone. The enchanted rope that had held her captive had disappeared with She-Ra. Slowly, she raised her hands and looped her fingers around the netting that still separated her from the others like the bars of a prison cell.

"Okay."

Adora twitched back and blinked, incredulous. "What?"

"I said okay," Catra said. "I'll go back with you. I'll join the rebellion."

"Seriously?" Glimmer cried, equal parts relieved and dismayed.

Bow clutched at his head in disbelief and beamed. "Oh my gosh, for real?"

But Catra paid them no mind. She sat back, demure and patient as Adora hooked her fingers in the net and pulled, tearing a sizeable hole with her bare hands.

And when the netting fell away, Catra leapt.

With her powerful legs, Catra sprang up and over Adora's head, driving a knee hard into her face as she dove. Landing on the other side, Catra tucked into a roll and jumped back on her feet. She whirled around to find Bow notching a fresh arrow while Glimmer bent over Adora. Blood drained between the fingers Adora pressed over the split in her lip, dripping down her chin and staining the pristine white of her sleeve.

_That will teach you to kiss me with that lying mouth_, Catra thought. She spat on the ground between them to drive the point home and wiped at her lips with the back of her hand.

"Screw you, Catra!" Glimmer raged as she helped Adora to her feet. "I take it all back. You really are a terrible person."

Catra shrugged. "Tell me something I don't know."

But where Glimmer was furious, Adora simply looked stunned. She looked down at her fingers, slick and shining with blood, and then back up to Catra. Her eyes searched for some kind of answer in her former friend's icy expression.

"Catra, why?"

"You can't be serious," Catra balked. "You didn't actually think I was actually going to do it, did you? After everything that's happened between us, all it was going to take was a pity party from your replacement friends and a kiss to change my mind? Grow the fuck up, Adora."

"Why don't you stop being so difficult?" Adora replied. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, but she couldn't hide the way they trembled. "Is this honestly how it's going to be for the rest of our lives? I'm sorry I hurt you, Catra, I really am. But you can't stay mad at me forever."

"Watch me."

The silence that followed was heavy enough to suffocate. None of them spoke – the only sound was the rustling of the leaves above.

Then, without warning, Bow twisted and fired his arrow into the trees. Everyone else jumped, ready to fight. From up above, something let out a skin crawling shriek. Catra's eyes combed the leafy canopy for some sign of what had made the sound, but found only the taut length of rope that had apparently been attached to the arrow. Bow wrestled with the end of it like a fisherman fighting to drag in the biggest catch of his life.

"Did you bring along a friend?" he grunted, narrowing his eyes at Catra. Her stomach clenched at the thought, but she didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer.

With one final heave, Bow pulled a net down from the trees for the second time that day. The bundle came loose, snapping branches as it dislodged from the tree, and plummeted to the ground with another shriek. The group edged closer, trying to determine what the flailing mass in the net was. Glimmer got there first.

"Ugh!" she cried, leaping back a step. "What is that?"

Whatever it was replied with a nasty hiss.

Then Adora let out a gasp. She whirled on her heel, snagged the front of Catra's uniform in her fist, and lifted her off her feet.

"You've got a lot of nerve," she roared. Her twisted, angry expression coupled with the smeared blood around her mouth made her look like a monster.

"What are you talking about?" Catra said, struggling against her grip.

"You're angry at me because Glimmer and Bow followed me, but you brought that?"

"Brought _what_, Adora? Use your words!"

Too livid to explain, Adora turned, swinging Catra like a rag-doll. She let go just as Catra tried to take a swing in retaliation. The awkward momentum threw Catra off balance and she toppled onto her side, landing hard on her shoulder.

That's when she heard the laugh.

The horrible, child-like tittering she knew all too well.

Her head shot up and there, only a couple paces away, sat Hordak's winged spy, watching her with dark delight.

Catra pushed herself back onto her knees to get away from the creature. Imp–who always reminded her of the animated corpse of a stillborn gargoyle–was just as revolting to her as it was to the others.

"I didn't bring–"

"_I'll go back with you. I'll join the Rebellion._"

Catra froze. Ice cold terror ran through her veins as she heard her own voice echo back at her from Imp's open maw. It had been listening to the entire thing, and it had been spying on her.

"No," she whispered.

Seeing the fear in her eyes, the spy broke into another fit of nightmarish giggles. Again it tipped it's head back and opened it's horrible little mouth.

"_Adora and I have been meeting here in secret to hook-up._"

"Stop it!" Catra cried. Lurching forward, she tried to grab the creature but it rolled away, getting more tangled in the net but laughing all the same. "You can't tell him that! Why are you doing this?"

"_You can't tell him that!_"

Catra let out a strangled cry. She made to reach for Imp a second time, but was caught by a pair of strong hands that hauled her backwards and onto her feet. Adora's hand–the one not covered in her own blood–pressed firmly over Catra's mouth, while her other arm wrapped around her middle and held her firmly in place.

"Catra, you need to stop talking. It could use anything you say against you." Adora's voice was tight with urgency. She knew exactly what was at stake.

"What is going on?" Glimmer asked, taking a couple extra steps away from the creature and closer to Adora. Her voice quivered slightly; she knew to be afraid, she just didn't know why.

"And why does that demon baby sound like Catra?" Bow said. He clutched his end of the rope tightly but eyed it with distress.

Adora's grip tightened protectively around Catra, whose chest heaved with each frantic breath. "It's Hordak's spy."

Glimmer frowned. "But why's it spying on..."

She didn't finish that thought.

"Catra, you can't go back there. Not now," Adora whispered. There was genuine fear in her words. "He'll... If he hears that... Catra, Hordak will be furious. He could kill you."

Fresh tears leaked from the corners of Catra's eyes. She felt them track down her face and pool at the edge of Adora's fingers, who lifted her hand from her mouth and used it to wipe them away. Catra knew Adora was right, but in that moment she couldn't decide what was worse – the punishment waiting for her back in the Fright Zone or the fact that Hordak had found it necessary to spy on her in the first place. She had worked so hard for his trust, and she had risked it all for Adora.

Typical.

"What do we do?" Glimmer couldn't seem to look away from the repulsive creature, despite how clearly uncomfortable it made her. "We can't just let it go, can we?"

Bow held the end of the rope out to Adora. It took a moment for her to give up her hold on Catra, but she couldn't stand around and do nothing. Reluctantly, she took the rope and wrapped it firmly around her wrist. Untethered, Catra shrank into herself. She wrapped her arms around her body to replace the warmth Adora's arm took with it.

"What are you going to do?" Adora asked, watching warily as Bow pulled a new arrow from his quiver and notched it in place.

Swallowing hard, Bow took aim.

"I'm going to get rid of it," he said, voice shaking. "We can't let it go back and get Catra into trouble."

"Bow!" Glimmer cried. "You can't kill it."

"Yes, I can."

"I got myself into trouble," Catra said. With agile reflexes, she snatched the arrow out of Bow's hand and watched him fumble in surprise. "And besides, Princess Twinkles is right: you can't kill it."

She didn't wait for them to argue with her, and they didn't try. Instead, they watched in horrified silence as she stepped up to Imp and lifted it by the netting. The creature didn't react, it simply stared back at her with unblinking eyes of eerie glowing light.

Catra withdrew her claws. From behind her she heard Adora inhale sharply.

And then, before she could think twice about it, Catra shredded the netting. Numb, she took a step back and watched as the winged gremlin took flight and disappeared over the treetops.

"Catra, what did you do?" Adora cried, taking her by the shoulders and spinning her around. "Why did you let it go?"

Adora's fingertips dug into Catra's arms. Her eyes were wide with panic and wet with the threat of a more tears. Catra stared back at her with a dispassionate blankness that made Adora uneasy.

"Let go of me," Catra said. There was no fight in her demand.

Adora shook her head. "No. I can't let you go back there."

"You're not my hero, Adora. Stop trying to protect me."

Catra twisted out of Adora's grip, leaving a constellation of tiny aches where her fingers had been. Despite Glimmer and Bow's cries of protest, she turned away from them all and stalked toward the forest.

"Catra, wait!"

Despite every better instinct, Catra paused at the sound of Adora's plea. She looked back over her shoulder and watched the tears wash paths through the blood on Adora's face.

"What?"

Adora's bottom lip trembled. "You would really rather go back there, knowing what's going to happen to you, than come with me?"

"Would I rather be punished by Hordak than give you another chance to break my heart? Absolutely."


	6. Chapter 6

Heavy footfalls echoed around the high metal walls of the Fright Zone's central fortification unit, creating the auditory illusion of an advancing team of Horde soldiers. But there was just one – Force Captain Scorpia, hurrying down dingy passages on her way to answer a summons from Lord Hordak himself. She hummed cheerfully to herself as she went, pleased to be useful. It was incredibly rare for Hordak to even remember she existed, let alone to trust her with a task. With a small thrill, she thought of Catra and how skillfully she had earned their leader's respect. Scorpia dreamed of being even half as cunning and capable as her partner and best friend, among other things.

_I hope I learn some useful intel I can take back to Wildcat_, Scorpia thought as she carefully tapped in a door code with the tip of her massive claw. _Wouldn't that be the best?_

The hydraulic door slid open with a hiss, revealing one last long hallway. At the end of it, Scorpia could see the large antechamber that proceeded Hordak's lab. Standing against the wall, her long lavender hair wrapped around her head, was Entrapta.

Scorpia broke into a jog, waving and calling to her friend.

"Hey, Entrapta! Fancy meeting you here! Are you here to give me my task?"

The sentient hair parted just enough for Entrapta to peer out. From what Scorpia could see, the quirky scientist's magenta eyes were wide and fearful. Given how unusual it was for Entrapta to be phased by virtually anything, this gave Scorpia pause.

"Scorpia, I'm so glad you're here!" There was a tremble in Entrapta's muffled voice.

"Why are you–"

Entrapta raised a finger and held it up to her helmet of hair where her mouth would be. "Shh!"

"How am I supposed to help if you don't tell me what's going on?"

Her question was answered by a thunderous crash from the other side of Hordak's sealed door. A pained scream cut through the air, and for a moment, Scorpia's heart stopped.

She knew that voice.

"Catra?" Frantically she looked from the door to Entrapta, searching for answers. Instead she found the princess with both hands clamped over where her hair already covered her ears, shaking like a leaf.

Realizing she was going to have to save Catra on her own, Scorpia mustered her courage and leapt into action.

"Don't worry, Wildcat! I'm com–"

Something snagged at her tail, sending her crashing backwards to the ground.

"No, Scorpia! You can't go in there!"

Scorpia twisted around to see Entrapta had emerged from her cocoon. The hair of her pigtails had wrapped around Scorpia's tail, and held on with impressive tenacity.

A series of metallic clangs rang out from the lab. Something that sounded distressingly like a body being struck. Another scream of agony.

"Entrapta, let go! Someone's hurting Catra, I need to–"

"It's Hordak," Entrapta hissed, looking absolutely terrified. "Well, actually, it's Emily. Hordak made me program her to– ugh, nevermind, it's too awful."

"Hordak?" Scorpia was stunned. "But she's his second in command. Why would he hurt her?"

Another ear-splitting scream cut through the air, followed by a series of gut-wrenching sobs. Catra's misery echoed around the chamber like a nightmare Scorpia couldn't wake from.

Entrapta gave Scorpia's tail another tug, just to be safe. "She did something bad. I don't know what, but it made him real angry. If you go in there now, you'll just make things worse."

"So, what am I supposed to do? Just sit here until it's over?"

With an apologetic look, Entrapta shrugged.

And so, they waited. Side by side, the pair sat with their backs against the wall while Catra suffered. Entrapta wrapped her hair around them both and they huddled close as Catra wailed in pain and fear. Bangs and crashes, the pulsing of electricity; Scorpia was left to imagine what each horrible sound meant. Forcing herself to listen, Scorpia tried to bear witness to Catra's pain so that, in a way, her favourite person in the world wouldn't have to endure alone. She only had to cover her ears once, when after far too long, Catra began to plead for mercy.

Scorpia had never once heard Catra utter the word 'please'. Her Wildcat didn't need to ask – she got what she wanted in other ways. And though Scorpia could admit that it wasn't one of Catra's finer qualities, she would have preferred to go the rest of her life without hearing the word pass Catra's lips over hearing it like this.

It was difficult to tell how long they sat there, waiting for it to be over, but it struck Scorpia as a long time – too long.

And then the world went quiet.

The silence was unnerving, especially in the absence of action. No footsteps, no robotic sound, no weeping. Scorpia and Entrapta looked at one another, their eyes betraying every fear they didn't dare speak out loud.

There was a hiss and the whirring of mechanical movement. The doors to Hordak's lab slid open to reveal the hulking metallic mass of Emily filling the threshold. One of the robot's spider-like legs reared back into the artificial green glow of the lab and, from the gloom, shoved a limp and bloody mass out the door with such force that it toppled down the stairs and crumpled in a heap on the floor.

It was Catra.

At the doorway, Lord Hordak breezed into view, eyes fixed on a tablet device in his hands while his unnervingly creepy spy perched on his shoulder, tittering with glee. Hordak tapped a series of keystrokes onto the tablet's screen and Emily, whose display had been pulsing an angry crimson, faded back to her softer, more characteristic violet. Entrapta let out a whimper of relief.

"Apologies for the disruption, Entrapta." Hordak's smooth baritone was cold and aloof. "Though I'm sure you'll be happy to hear your robot's interrogation programming functions beautifully. You should be very proud. Shall we get back to work?"

He didn't wait for Entrapta's reply. Instead, he spared Scorpia one quick glance before turning his back on them all.

"Force Captain Scorpia, clean this mess up."

"Ye-yes, Lord Hordak. Of course."

Entrapta looked up at her with sad eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured, then darted for the lab. She skirted around Catra's broken body with a noise of dismay, dashed up the steps, and threw herself onto Emily just as the doors slid closed behind her.

No longer beholden to protocol, Scorpia scrambled forward and threw herself down at Catra's side. As gently as possible, she lifted her friend up in her arms. She bent her ear to Catra's chest and held her breath until she felt the feeble rise and fall that told her she was alive.

"Oh, Wildcat," Scorpia whispered. "What did you do?"


	7. Chapter 7

Catra came back to consciousness slowly. At first she felt nothing, her body free floating in the disassociated numbness of sleep. Her mind was blank – the last thing she remembered was creeping past Horde guards and out of the Fright Zone to...

Memories came back to her in quick succession, each more terrible than the last: waiting for Adora, being confronted by Glimmer and Bow, Adora trying to get her to join the Rebellion, Hordak's spy. Catra swallowed and found her throat felt like she had swallowed glass. The sound of her own screams–pained and terrified–played over in her mind. Against her closed eyelids her brain projected the menacing red glow of Entrapta's robot, advancing under Hordak's control.

Heart hammering, Catra jolted upright. Or, at least she tried to. The sudden motion sent a storm of pain rampaging across her body, and she dropped back with an anguished wail.

It took a few moments for the pain to subside to a point where she dared try moving again. She started with her eyes, opening them just a crack. Only one obeyed her command – the other, it seemed, was swollen shut. Drawing sharp, shallow breaths between gritted teeth, Catra lifted an arm to inspect it. Her muscles felt like lead and her hand trembled with the effort it took to lift it. Oozing bandages wrapped her wrist, no doubt dressing the deep gouges where her hands had been bound behind her back. That feeling of helplessness gripped her heart all over again – of knowing she wouldn't be allowed to defend herself. It felt an awful lot like her childhood.

Gingerly, Catra turned her head. Her headpiece sat on the table by the bedside. She grimaced, feeling naked and exposed without it. Her gaze roamed further, at which point she realized something was off. She sniffed the air and the scent of the thin pillow on which her head rested.

This wasn't her room.

"Where am I?" she mumbled to herself. Her voice was hoarse and her mouth was dry. When she tried to lick her lips, she tasted the stale metallic tang of blood, and her stomach lurched.

Catra tried once more to sit up. She moved slowly and pushed through the pain, but her chest burned and something about her midsection felt constricted. With extraordinary effort, she managed to lift the edge of the standard issue barrack blanket that covered her and discovered the entire top half of her torso was hidden under a snug layer of bandages.

_Broken ribs_, she thought with a wince. _Perfect._

That was all she could handle. Catra eased back onto the pillow and braced herself against the random flares of pain that assaulted her across every corner of her body.

Screwing her eyes shut tight, she let self pity wash over her. She was broken, she was weak, and she was useless.

_Don't forget: you're also alone_.

Catra didn't realize she was crying until a sob escaped her scorched throat. Hot tears ran down her face and into her hair; she didn't bother to wipe them away.

She was so tired and in so much pain that breaking down felt like the only option. And so, Catra cried. She wept shamelessly, shedding tears until her eyes burned and the pillow was damp. Her gasping breaths turned into painful hiccups that felt like a kick to her lungs with every convulsion. A headache pounded at the inside of her skull, but she just kept crying. It didn't matter if it hurt – she deserved it all.

So caught up was she in her own misery that Catra didn't even stop when she heard the beeping of a keypad. The door hissed open, and she tilted her head just enough that she was able to watch Scorpia fumble over the threshold, her clawed hands ladened with supplies.

Their eyes met across the room and the moment hung. As she watched Scorpia's eyes grow wide, seemingly in slow motion, Catra suddenly found herself wishing she had stopped herself from crying after all.

"Catra!" Scorpia gasped. "You're awake! I'm so sorry, I was trying to hurry back so you wouldn't have to wake up alone but I ran into Lonnie and the others and you know how they can be but, oh my gosh, are you crying? You poor thing, hang on. I've got something that might help."

Catra watched in bewildered silence as Scorpia dumped her armful of things onto the table and rummaged around in the pile without once pausing to breathe.

"Here it is!" Scorpia announced, raising up what looked like a small lumpy bag with an air of triumph. She turned, beaming brightly, and pressed the bag to the side of Catra's swollen face.

"Ow! What are you doing?"

Flustered, Scorpia pulled back a little. "Sorry! Did I make it worse? It's ice for the swelling. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's fine," Catra grumbled. "Don't worry about it."

In truth, it was better than fine. Already, the cool pressure of the ice was numbing the dull, persistent throb in Catra's head. The relief was small but appreciated, enough so that she closed her eyes and let slip a soft, involuntary sigh.

When Catra opened her eyes again, she found Scorpia crouched at her bedside, watching intently. Under any other circumstance, she would have bristled at the proximity. But between feeling grateful for the ice and being in no shape to squirm away, she decided to let it slide just this once.

"Is this your room?"

Scorpia's cheeks grew rosy. "Yeah. Sorry about the mess. If I'd known you'd be staying over, in my bed and–" she let out a nervous laugh and cleared her throat "–I mean, I would have cleaned the place up a bit, is what I'm saying."

Catra glanced around the room. Like every other Horde soldier, Scorpia had very little to her name. There wasn't really anything to make a mess with, but Catra opted not to point this out.

"Okay, but... Why am I in _your_ room?"

"Oh! Right. Well, to be honest, I don't know the access code for yours and I didn't think you'd want to stay in the infirmary, so, uh, here we are!" Scorpia punctuated the explanation with another nervous laugh.

Scorpia wasn't wrong. Just entertaining the idea of recovering in the infirmary, weak and prone where anyone could see, made Catra feel sick. Then again, there was likely more than one contributing factor to the uncomfortable roiling in her stomach at that moment.

"Besides," Scorpia continued, filling the awkward silence that had fallen between them. "No one would think to look for you here. Not that they would – I told the team you're off on a solo mission for a few days. That should buy you a bit of peace and quiet, so all you need to worry about is getting better."

Catra couldn't hide her surprise. That Scorpia thought to remove her from the infirmary had been one thing, but for her to have taken the initiative to keep their team off her trail for a while was... Well, it was very Scorpia. But it was also exactly what Catra needed in that moment, and she didn't know how to process it. It had been such a long time since anyone had directed such thoughtfulness in her direction – and given that they only person who ever had was Adora, it left her wrestling with a strange mix of emotions.

Cold condensation from the bag of ice slid down Catra's face, shocking her back into the moment. From the corner of her eye she could see Scorpia, still sitting and smiling hopefully.

Catra cleared her throat and glanced away. "That was smart. Good thinking."

Even without looking, she knew Scorpia was beaming.

"Okay!" Scorpia said, jumping to her feet. "There are still a few things I'd like to get for you but I think this stuff is a pretty good start. I grabbed some clean bandages from the infirmary, we've got a pack of cards in case you get bored, a glass of water – although I spilled most of it on the way here, so I'll have to fill that back up I guess..."

But Catra wasn't listening anymore. Her headache was edging its way back to power, this time hammering away right between her eyes. With every throb, she was reminded of the pulsing jolts of electricity Emily had fired through her body over and over, until she was sure she was back there again for real, being forced to survive one more time.

A gentle but unexpected touch at her shoulder made Catra jump, sending another full body spasm of pain ricocheting through her. She yelped and gasped, overwhelmed by all her frayed nerve endings firing at once.

"Hey, are you okay?" Scorpia's voice, so tender with concern, cut through the fog of pain and memories.

Catra glanced down and saw it was her touch that had startled her out of her flashback.

"No," she said before her better judgement could tell her not to. "I'm not okay."

Her vulnerability stunned them both. Ashamed, Catra turned her face toward the wall. After a moment, Scorpia eased back to the floor. She reached a claw forward, tempted to brush Catra's wild and knotted hair back from her face, but thought better of it. Instead, she rested in on the sliver of mattress at Catra's side, and gave her space.

"What happened?" Scorpia asked at last. Her voice was barely more than a whisper. "Why did Hordak do this to you?"

A lump had formed in Catra's throat. With a painful swallow, she pushed it back down.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, that's fair." Scorpia fidgeted. She hated this – hated seeing Catra this way and hated that she didn't know how to make it better. "Then, will you at least tell me how I can help? What do you need? Anything at all – just say the word."

Catra didn't turn back. "Honestly, I think right now I just need to be alone."

It wasn't the answer Scorpia was hoping for, but she got to her feet anyway. She wasn't going to deny Catra, especially now.

"You bet, Wildcat. I'll come back to check on you in a bit."

And so, though it pained her to walk away, that's exactly what Scorpia did.

Catra waited for the door to close behind her. One moment passed, then another, and when she was absolutely certain she was alone, Catra cried herself back to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Scorpia worked by lamplight, sifting through stacks of files as quietly as possible. Typically Catra took care of the paperwork–albeit reluctantly and with no small amount of tantrums–but Scorpia didn't want them to fall behind. Besides, it would be one less thing for Catra to worry about while her body was healing.

It was important work, even if it wasn't the most glamorous job in the world. In fact, Scorpia rather liked the quiet time she got to spend reading and learning about the operations and logistics that kept teams like theirs running. She didn't always understand what she was reading–like the year-over-year outputs spreadsheet she was currently poring over–but that didn't bother her.

"What are you doing?"

Scorpia yelped in surprise, jumping enough to knock her knees on the underside of her desk and send a couple files skittering to the floor. On the other side of the room, Catra blinked groggily back at her from the bed.

"Did I wake you?" Scorpia asked as she stooped to collect the scattered paperwork, skewering a couple pages with the tip of her claws in the process.

Catra replied with a grunt. She was staring at the ceiling, her face a tense mask that hinted at the pain she was trying to conceal.

"I hate this."

"Are you bored? Hungry? I sneaked some rations from the mess hall for you if you think you're up to eating."

"You took food from the mess hall?" Catra was all at once stunned and impressed. The Horde took food rationing very seriously, and things like helping oneself to more than the standard allotment, or taking food from the drab and fluorescent-bathed hall designated for dining, was strictly forbidden. Catra knew this all too well – she had been punished for both offences on more than one occasion.

Scorpia laughed. "Well I wasn't about to let my bestie starve! Your body needs nourishment to heal. Hang on." She turned back to her desk and rummaged through one of her drawers to produce a small, napkin-wrapped bundle. With a shy smile, she handed it to Catra, who accepted it meekly.

"You could have gotten into a lot of trouble over this," Catra said. She peered between the folds at the pilfered ration bar and felt a twinge of what might have been guilt.

"Yeah, I suppose." Scorpia shrugged, a blush creeping across her face. "But it was worth it."

Something about this made Catra flush as well, though it was thankfully harder to tell thanks to the soft fuzz on her skin. She was almost flattered–endeared, even–but she couldn't seem to quiet the small voice in her head that whispered for her to be careful. Falling for charm and sweet words clearly hadn't served her well thus far. She could still hear Adora's voice–feel her warm breath against her ear–whispering about missing her as she slid a hand up Catra's shirt.

_And look where that got me_, Catra thought, trying to squeeze out the memory and the heat blooming between her legs. The aches and throbs of her body as she tried to sit up did the trick nicely.

"Hey, let me help you," Scorpia said, reaching out to her.

Despite the terrible pain the effort was causing, Catra growled. "I'm fine. I can do this on my own."

"I know you _can_. But you shouldn't."

The arm on which Catra was leaning trembled with the effort and her ribs felt like they were on fire. She gritted her teeth against the strain but she couldn't pretend she wasn't in agony.

"Fine," she gasped.

Her arm gave out just as Scorpia eased her claw behind her back. With a touch far more delicate than one would expect from a woman of such evident, raw strength, Scorpia helped Catra sit up, even tucking the pillow against the wall so she could lean back in relative comfort. Catra stayed quiet the entire time, letting Scorpia maneuver her aching body around like some kind of doll, watching her work with a wary gaze.

"There, how's that?" Scorpia asked, sitting back to survey the set-up. She tapped a claw thoughtfully to her chin as she did so.

Catra peered up at her. "Why are you doing all this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you helping me? Why are you always so nice?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Scorpia looked genuinely confused. "This is what you do for people you care about."

"Sure, except I totally don't deserve it."

"Who the heck told you that?"

Catra scoffed and looked away, focusing intently on her bandaged wrists that were in desperate need of re-dressing. "Come on, Scorpia. Let's be real: I'm a bitch."

"Don't say that!"

"Why not? It's true. I'm a bad person who does bad things. I don't deserve–"

Scorpia shook her head and cut Catra off with a flippant wave of her claw. "Sorry, but I don't accept that."

Catra blinked. "You don't accept... That's not how this works."

"Sure it is. You're important to me. I don't care if you think you deserve good things or bad things – I take care of the people who matter to me." Scorpia stood, leaving Catra to peer up at her with a wide and baffled stare. "Now eat your rations. I've got some paperwork to finish. Maybe when we're done, we can break out the cards!"

Nothing Catra could think of seemed like the right response. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but eventually she just accepted that Scorpia had managed to get the last word. The next time she opened her mouth, she stuffed it with food and ate in stunned silence instead.

Scorpia was still working by the time Catra finished eating. It was an incredible relief to have food in her stomach again – she felt stronger already.

Stronger, and perhaps a bit restless.

Catra eyed Scorpia, wondering what it would take to get a moment alone, when a tickle at the back of her parched throat presented the opportunity for her. She let out a few dry coughs–the stale rations hadn't helped matters much–and winced.

"You okay?" Scorpia asked, looking her over with concern.

"Just thirsty," Catra replied. "Any chance I could get some water?"

Scorpia was on her feet before Catra finished her question. "You got it, Wildcat. Sit tight."

_No thanks_, Catra thought, watching Scorpia dash from the room.

She wasted no time; as soon as the door sealed shut, Catra started the slow and painful process of shuffling off the bed. By the time she reached the edge and was able to slide her feet to the floor, she had an idea that she had made a big mistake. Her muscles were heavy and useless, and her cracked ribs resonated sharp flares with every laboured beat of her heart. But Catra was nothing if not stubborn. She dug her claws into the table and heaved herself onto her feet, pushing through every spasm and sting.

Pulling herself up straight, Catra took a few deep breaths.

_Mind over matter. You've done this before, you can do it again._

Except no other punishment Catra ever endured had been quite this bad. As she took one tentative step and then another, she felt the world tip and slide. She staggered, smashing her hip hard into the desk. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision. Her body trembled with an agony she could no longer ignore. The pain manifested into a wail that managed to escape just as Scorpia stepped back into the room.

"Catra!" she cried. "What are you doing?"

"I thought I could–" Catra's knees buckled.

Somewhere on the edge of her fading consciousness, she heard a glass shatter against the floor, and then nothing.


	9. Chapter 9

Catra regained consciousness almost as quickly as she'd lost it. Unfortunately, part of that had to do with the fact that Scorpia wasn't able to catch her as she fell. She crashed into the floor at the exact same moment she woke up.

"Fuck!" she howled, reflexively curling into herself against the pain.

Scorpia was already at her side. She kneeled and hovered anxiously over Catra.

"Why were you out of bed? Here, let me help you up."

Scorpia reached out, ready to scoop Catra into her arms. Instead, Catra clutched an outstretched claw with a trembling hand and used it to pull herself up. In a battle of wills, Scorpia knew Catra's stubbornness usually won. So she conceded to let Catra help herself, taking comfort in knowing she wouldn't let her fall a second time.

Catra made it to her feet, quaking from exertion and leaning heavily on Scorpia for support. Every breath stung like hot coals smouldering in her chest.

"You don't look so good, Wildcat," Scorpia said. "Maybe we should take you back to the infirmary."

"No!" Catra winced. "I just need to sit or something. I'll be fine. Help me back to the bed."

The two shuffling steps it took to get to the bed were some of the hardest Catra ever took, but they made it. She let Scorpia help ease her back onto the mattress while she concentrated on taking slow breaths and willing the constant throb of her injuries to subside. It was only after a few moments of this intense concentration that Catra realized Scorpia was still crouched in front of her, cradling one of her hands with a claw. Dark eyes stared back at her from beneath tightly knitted brows.

"Don't look at me like that," Catra mumbled, pulling her hand back.

"Like what?"

"Like you pity me. I feel pathetic enough as it is, I don't need you feeling sorry for me too."

Scorpia's face fell. "I don't pity you! I'm just worried. I hate seeing you like this."

They sat in silence, one nursing her ego while the other tended to her feelings.

Then Scorpia gasped. Her expression brightened once again.

"I've got an idea!" she announced with an elated smile. "I'll be right back, but this time _don't move_."

Sprinting from the room with a couple bounding strides, she didn't wait for Catra to reply. But it didn't matter – Catra had learned her lesson. At least for the moment, she wasn't going anywhere.

When Scorpia returned a few minutes later, she cradled a small opaque vial in her claw as if it were a priceless artifact. Catra, who still sat on the edge of the mattress fighting for breath between the stabs of pain from her ribs, eyed it with suspicious.

"What is that?"

"It's a pain tincture," Scorpia explained. She held the bottle up to the light. Inside, a small dose of viscous yellow medicine shimmered like a jewel.

Catra balked. "What? Where has that been this whole time?"

"Apparently it's pretty potent stuff, so usually only the doctors get to administer it. And seeing as you didn't stay in the infirmary..." Scorpia shrugged.

"How'd you get it then?"

"I know a guy working a supply shift who owed me a favour."

"It was Kyle, wasn't it?"

Scorpia laughed, a sound of such genuine delight that Catra couldn't help but smile a little too. "Yeah, it was totally Kyle. Now, let's see if I can do this..." She trailed off as her concentration homed in on the task of unscrewing the delicate dropper with her ungainly claws. Catra watched with thinning patience until finally reaching out for it herself.

"I'll do it."

"Okay, but be careful," Scorpia fretted, handing the vial over as it were the sensitive detonator to a nuclear bomb. "You only need a little bit–"

Before she could finish her sentence, Catra had already helped herself to dropper-ful of the medicine, shuddering as she swallowed the bitter tincture down.

"Ugh, that's terrible!"

Catra resealed the bottle and tossed it back to Scorpia, who set it gently on the desk. The only thing left to do now was wait.

Scorpia eased down onto the mattress beside Catra. She left enough room for another body between them, knowing Catra would want to maintain her personal space, though it took every ounce of willpower she had not too reach across the distance and brush Catra's untamed hair back from her face. Instead, she watched in respectful silence, taking her in. The swelling in Catra's face had subsided quite a bit, though her blue eye still gave the impression of being frozen mid-squint. A neat line of stitches held together a gash atop her brow, and the split through her bottom lip was healing over nicely. And yet, in spite of all the damage, she was still the loveliest creature Scorpia had ever seen.

Gradually, Catra's shallow breaths eased and the tightness in her features mellowed.

"How are you feeling?" Scorpia asked.

"I think... it's working." Catra's reply came out slow. A lopsided smile stretched across her face. "Everything hurts... less? I think I'm cured."

Without warning, Catra slumped to the side, bridging the short distance between them and laying her head on Scorpia's lap.

"Oh! Uh, you okay down there?" Scorpia didn't dare move, lest she disrupt this perfect moment. "Are you tired? Want me to tuck you in?"

"Just dizzy," Catra said. "My head is... very big."

"Do you mean heavy?"

"Mmm."

For a moment, Scorpia wondered if Catra had fallen asleep. Her eyes were closed and her face seemed almost serene.

"I fucked up, Scorpia," Catra announced suddenly, eyes still closed. "I'm so dumb."

"You're not dumb."

"Ha! You're just saying that because you don't know what I did."

Scorpia swallowed. Two parts of her mind were at war with one another – one that desperately wanted to know what had brought Catra to this vulnerable place, and the other that wanted to respect un-medicated Catra's desire to keep that information private.

Medicated Catra, however, had no such qualms.

"Hordak had the ugly baby follow me."

"Follow you where?"

"To the woods." Catra opened her eyes and gazed up, looking ashamed. "To see Adora. But, like, secretly." She said this in a conspiratorial whisper.

Scorpia's heart plummeted. Adora. It was always Adora.

From her place on Scorpia's lap, Catra sniffled; a miserable little sound that didn't suit her in the slightest.

"I thought... it meant something? Like, to her." She looked away, bottom lip trembling. "But, I'm stupid. She picks her dumb new shiny friends – picks them over me every time."

"I'm sorry, Wildcat," Scorpia murmured. She succumbed to the urge and began gently stroking the tip of her claw through Catra's hair. "You deserve better."

Catra snorted a laugh. "No, I don't."

Before Scorpia could argue, Catra sat up with a jolt. She wobbled on the edge of the mattress for a moment before getting uneasily to her feet. Clearly the medication was working.

"Hey, take it easy," Scorpia reached out, ready to catch her if she stumbled again.

"I'm getting exactly what I deserve." Catra pointed a clawed finger in Scorpia's face. "Bad people get... badness."

"You're not a bad person, Catra. Why can't you see–"

"Uh, yes, I am. You think this–" Catra gestured to her bandaged chest. "–happens to good people? It's always like this. Everyone knows I'm no good."

"That's not true. You're amazing!"

Catra glowered, her body swaying like a sapling in the wind. "If I'm so amazing, why did she leave me? Face it, nobody _actually_ cares about me." She dropped her face, letting her hair form a curtain between them. "Not really. Not for long."

Scorpia reached out and tenderly took her hands.

"_I_ care about you, Catra."

From behind her hair, Catra scoffed.

"I may be dumb, but I'm not _that_ dumb." She looked up, eyes struggling to focus through the drug-induced haze. Something about her expression–impassive and vacant–sent an unsettling shiver up Scoripia's spine. "I know what you want – why you're being so nice to me."

"What I want?" Unease settled like a stone in Scorpia's core.

Catra tipped her head to the side, surveying Scorpia with a look that was difficult to read.

"You know what – why not? Apparently this is all I'm good for anyway." She took a step forward, moving with a fluidity that wouldn't have been possible without the drugs. Scorpia opened her mouth to speak, but the words died in her throat as Catra pressed a palm into her chest and shoved. The move was so unexpected that Scorpia lost her balance and dropped back, catching herself with her claws.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her heartbeat hammering just to be closer to the place where Catra's hand had been.

Without a flicker of emotion, Catra moved in closer. She lifted her knees and crawled up to straddle Scorpia's lap, a leg on either side. She wrapped her slender arms around Scorpia's strong neck and pulled her inescapably into her orbit.

"What's it look like?" Catra purred. She pressed her body closer until Scorpia could feel their heat intertwine. "I'm giving you what you want, so take it."


	10. Chapter 10

Scorpia's mind spun. Forming coherent thought was next to impossible with Catra's perfect body pressed against hers. Catra, rolling her hips to create tantalizing friction, rising on her knees and tipping Scorpia's chin up with sharp nails under her jaw so that her chest hovered only a breath from Scorpia's lips. The strength it was taking to sit still, to not lean in and press greedy kisses into the delicate ridge of her collar bone, was nothing short of heroic.

"Well?" Catra raked her fingers behind Scorpia's head and across her scalp, making her shudder at the sensation. "What are you waiting for? I'm not going to stop you."

That voice. Those eyes. Her touch.

It was almost enough to send Scorpia reeling.

Because Catra was right: she _did_ want this. It would be so easy to overpower her – to throw Catra down onto the mattress, make short work of what remained of her clothes, and have her way with her.

How many times had she dreamed of this? How many times had she imagined pinning Catra down, working her over until she moaned her name with the same pleasure she had only ever reserved for Adora?

How badly did she want to show Catra that Adora wasn't the only woman who could make her feel good? That it was possible to feel the good parts without having to suffer the bad ones later?

How badly did Scorpia want to be the reason Catra never had to think about Adora–her lips, her hands, her tongue–ever again?

Yes, she wanted this. She wanted this so badly it hurt.

But not like this.

Catra's grip tightened. She moved in, lowering her face over Scorpia's until their lips were a mere whisper apart.

_Not like this_.

Scorpia sat up, pushing Catra away without letting her fall. The motion was more forceful than Scorpia intended. Surprised and jostled, Catra let out a gasp of pain and winced in a way that made Scorpia feel like dirt.

"What the hell, Scorpia?"

"I'm sorry, Catra, but I'm not going to do this."

"You're kidding, right? I _know_ this is why you're so nice to me." She reached her fingers out and gripped the front of Scorpia's uniform. Her claws split the fabric like paper. "Just fucking do it already."

"I said _no_."

It was the first time Scorpia ever raised her voice at Catra – and it was one of the only times she had denied her anything, too. Eyes wide with incredulous disbelief, Catra sank back. The effect was instantly sobering.

"You don't... You don't want me?"

Catra's voice was so small, so defeated. Immediately she pulled away, trying to wrestle away from Scorpia for fear of revealing the true weight of her mortification.

With a sigh, Scorpia twisted to the side and laid Catra back on the bed. She pinned her in place, but not for the reason she wished.

"Listen to me, Catra," she said. "Look at me."

She patiently outlasted Catra's stubbornness, waiting until she turned those mismatched eyes back to her. They were glossy with tears and tinted with unmistakable shame.

"Of _course_ I want you. I'm crazy about you. But not like this. If we – if _this_ – is going to happen, I want it to be because we both want it for the same reason. Not because you're screwed up on pain meds, or sad because Adora broke your heart. And I definitely don't want to do this if all you're trying to do is punish yourself."

Scorpia pressed her lips into a tight line and waited for some sign that Catra understood. Beneath her, Catra gazed back without speaking. Her breath quickened, and again she strained against Scorpia's grip.

"Let go of me," she demanded. She sounded panicked. "Get off. Let me up!"

That was a command Scorpia could follow. She sat back and watched as Catra scrambled to the other side of the bed, where she sat with her back pressed to the wall, knees tucked up and tail coiled protectively around her ankles. In that moment, she looked like a child, scared and helpless. She dropped her head into her hands and started to cry.

Scorpia stayed where she was, resisting the urge to comfort her. She rose from the bed with a sigh and watched as Catra wept.

"I know you don't believe this," she said. "But you're not the bad guy you think you are. You deserve to be happy. If I'm lucky, I'll get to be part of making that happen. But even if I'm not–even if you don't choose me in the end–that doesn't change a thing."

Catra lifted her head. She wiped her tears but avoided looking at Scorpia, choosing instead to stare vacantly at her own knees.

"I'm tired," she whispered. "I think I'm going to go back to bed."

A fissure cracked its way across Scorpia's heart. It was enough to take her breath away.

"Sure thing, Wildcat." She turned away, flicked off the lamp, and stepped numbly to the door. "Anything you need."


	11. Chapter 11

All Scorpia wanted was to get as far away from her quarters as possible. She could feel the heat of profound humiliation radiating from her cheeks. The idea of facing Catra again after what just transpired between them made her want to crawl into a hole and die. That things had managed to go that sideways so quickly left her disoriented.

She wasn't sure where she was going to go–or even where she was going to sleep that night–but at this point anywhere was better than here.

She hadn't made it far when the sound of frantic metallic clanging drew her attention. Turning, she found Emily scrambling down the hallway toward her.

"Woah, big girl. Where's the fire?"

"Scorpia! Thank goodness we found you!"

"Entrapta?" Scorpia leaned to the left, then to the right, peering around and under the bot. "Are you inside of Emily?"

"What? No, I'm in my lab. I'm using Emily's intercom system to talk to you remotely."

"Oh! That definitely makes more sense."

"Of course it does. Where's Catra?"

Scorpia's face fell. "She's, uh, still resting. Why?"

"Good." Through the intercom, Scorpia could hear the sounds of Entrapta feverishly clacking away on her keyboards. "I need you to come to the lab right away. Mine, not Hordak's. We have a situation."

Entrapta didn't give Scorpia a chance to consider. Pivoting with precision, Emily sped off back the way she came, sending thunderous echoes down the hallway as she went. Emily skidded around a corner, and Scorpia heard the scandalized shouts of Lonnie and Rogelio as the bot unceremoniously bowled them over.

A new kind of dread settled over Scorpia, quelling her concerns about Catra for the time being. She took a deep breath, gave her head a shake, and took off in Emily's wake.

*

Entrapta's lab was located in the lower barracks, which thankfully meant Scorpia was running down more stairs than up. Still, by the time she clamoured into the dim workspace, heavy with heat generated by countless whirring machines and the neon constellations of flashing LED lights, she was favouring a stitch in her side and woefully out of breath.

"What's... going... on?" she wheezed, doubling over with one hand on Emily for support.

"You're not dying, are you?" Entrapta asked from over her shoulder.

"No... I just... ran really fast. Hoo boy..."

"Okay, good. Because we're going to need you to take care of this."

Scorpia looked up and peered at the screen Entrapta was pointing at. On it was a series of smaller inset displays broadcasting various security feeds from across the Fright Zone. And there, on a display that showed an rarely-used service corridor, was She-Ra.

"Oh, come on!" Scorpia cried. "What is _she_ doing here?"

"No idea, but I'm super glad I installed my own private surveillance system. We definitely would have missed this otherwise." Entrapta sat back on a seat made of her own hair and tapped her chin thoughtfully, her eyes still trained on the small image of She-Ra creeping ever closer down the corridor.

"She's coming this way, isn't she?" Scorpia asked.

"Looks like it."

"Are the others with her?"

"I haven't seen anyone else – I think she's alone."

Scorpia turned this over in her mind. A solo stealth mission seemed like a truly poor plan, especially for She-Ra. Unless...

"Does anyone else knows she's here yet?"

Entrapta shook her head. "No one else has access to this feed. I was hoping you'd be able to, y'know, take care of things. Quietly, if possible. And quickly."

Scorpia set her jaw and rolled back her shoulders. "It would be my pleasure."

*

The service corridor ran through the sub-basement – a part of the barracks no one other than techs and engineers needed to access. It was excessively long, branching off into small rooms that housed the various facilities that kept the building operational. If the rest of the barracks were gloomy and depressing, this floor was downright creepy. Cold, stale air hung with the scent of rust and mildew, and the lights had a tendency to flicker ominously.

Scorpia crept down the access stairs into the mouth of the corridor. She held her breath, stood motionless, and listened. Aside from the ghostly clanging of outdated plumbing and the steady hum of lights and machinery, there was no indication that anyone else was there. For a sinking moment, Scorpia wondered if she was too late – perhaps She-Ra had already passed through the corridor and was making her way up to the Force Captain quarters at that very moment. She was grateful that Catra was set up in her room, instead of her own. Hopefully that would be enough to throw She-Ra off her trail until Scorpia could find her.

"Hello, Scorpia."

She-Ra's voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Scorpia yelped and jumped into a defensive stance.

"Where are you?" she shouted. "Show yourself."

A moment passed. Then, from one of the narrow hallways that spidered off from the main corridor, She-Ra emerged; sword on her back and her hands raised.

"I'm not here to fight," she said. "I just need your help."

Scorpia shook her head, certain she hadn't heard the princess properly. Just the sight of her, knowing what she had done to Catra, made Scorpia's insides boil. For all her softness, Scorpia possessed a wild and ruthless strength. She knew how to turn on the power when she needed to, and avenging someone she loved was definitely one of those times.

"You want help? From _me_?"

"Yes," She-Ra pleaded. Despite her heavenly glow, Scorpia could see she looked ragged and preoccupied. "Here, I'll prove it."

With a golden flash, She-Ra transformed back into Adora. Gone was her light and flowing mane. She shrank back to the simple human she had always been before the Sword of Protection had come along and changed everything.

"I mean it – I don't want to fight."

Scorpia narrowed her gaze. "Then what do you want?"

"Catra." Adora's voice trembled. "Please, can you take me to her?"

From the moment she saw She-Ra creeping around on that tiny security display, Scorpia had instinctively known this was why she'd come. Still, hearing Catra's name on her lips hit her like a gale, and it took her a beat to catch her breath.

Adora clasped her hands in front of her heart, beseeching. "Will you help me?"

Scorpia's gaze narrowed.

"To be honest, I think I'd rather fight."


	12. Chapter 12

Scorpia wasn't the most agile of fighters, but in that moment she was able to move with such ferocity that not even a warrior as skilled as Adora could match her. With a heavy swing, her claw caught Adora in the gut and sent her flying. She landed hard; her body skidded across the dirty floor and into the wall.

"I'm gonna need you to leave, princess," Scorpia growled through gritted teeth.

Adora got to her knees with a groan. She looked up, and from where she sat, Scorpia could better see just how worn she was. Dark circles hung beneath eyes that shone with a teary glaze.

"Please, Scorpia. I just need to see Catra."

"I don't think so." Scorpia stormed forward, grabbed Adora by the front of her jacket, and lifted her until she could glower at her eye-to-eye. "Seriously, don't you think you've done enough already?"

Even now, Adora didn't attempt to defend herself. She hung there, defenceless, and for some reason that only made Scorpia angier. With a primal yell, Scorpia heaved Adora across the corridor and slammed her into the opposite wall.

"I can't believe you. It wasn't enough for you to leave and abandon her the way you did – you just had to keep messing with her. How selfish can you get?"

"I'm sorry," Adora gasped, clutching at her side. "I know I messed up. I shouldn't have... it's complicated."

"It really isn't. You can have your Rebellion, or you can have her. You don't get to have both."

With laboured breath, Adora slumped back against the wall.

"Just tell me if she's alive. Please, I need to know Hordak didn't kill her because of me."

Scorpia inhaled sharply. Though she was still furious, there was a tiny piece of her heart that was glad that Adora realized the gravity of the situation – that she cared enough to risk sneaking back into the Fright Zone over this. Catra deserved at least that much.

For a moment, Scorpia considered lying to her. It would be incredibly cruel, but she felt Adora had earned that kind of pain. Maybe then Catra would get some peace, even if just for a little while.

But, no – Scorpia was a fierce protector, but she wasn't cold-hearted. She sighed.

"He didn't kill her, but he came pretty close."

Scorpia's words hit Adora harder than all her strikes combined. With a wail of relief, Adora fell to her knees and sobbed openly.

"I've been so worried," she said through a torrent of tears. "I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat. I just kept thinking–"

"This has to stop, Adora." Scorpia cut her off. "You can't have it both ways."

"I know..."

"So, what's it going to be? Catra or the Rebellion?"

Adora lifted her head. Her expression was a mix of resistance and resignation. "I can't..."

"You have to." Scorpia shook her head. By this point her rage had subsided. Simmering in its place was a simple, desperate desire for resolution, whatever that wound up looking like. "This isn't just about you and what you want."

With a pained moan, Adora seemed to wilt where she sat. "I believe in the Rebellion. I know what we're doing is right. But..." Her lip quivered as she forced herself to meet Scorpia's stern gaze. "I love her. I swear I do."

Scorpia had seen this coming a mile away, and still it was too much to take. Weakness took hold, and she had to lean back on the wall just to stay on her feet. She closed her eyes and took a breath. When she looked back down, she found Adora staring up at her intently, waiting.

Scorpia gave her a sad smile.

"Then love her enough to choose."

Adora hid her eyes in the crook of her arm. Her shoulders shook with a few silent sobs. Then she sat up, and she nodded.

"I should go."

Scorpia sighed. For some reason, that answer didn't make her feel as good as she thought it would.

She pushed off the wall and stepped to where Adora still sat in a miserable heap and offered a claw. Adora accepted the help, and together they heaved her back to her feet.

"You'll look after her, right?" Adora asked.

"I'm doing my best," Scorpia replied. "But you know Catra."

Adora huffed a small laugh. "Yeah..."

Silence stretched on for handful of painful moments. Adora lingered and Scorpia waited patiently.

"I'll distract the patrol near the corridor's exit so you can leave without being seen," she said.

"That's... really nice of you, Scorpia." Adora looked like she might start to cry again. "Thank you."

Scorpia waved off her gratitude. "I'm not doing it for you, trust me."

"Fair enough. But I mean it – thank you."

They exchanged solemn nods. Then Adora took a deep breath and without another word, strode off into the gloom. Scorpia watched her go like a sentry, arms crossed and face set in stone, until she was sure Adora wasn't coming back. She turned and glanced up to where one of Entrapta's security cameras watched with its cold, unblinking eye. If Adora did anything stupid, at least they would know.

A flash of movement on the edge of her vision caught Scorpia's attention. She dropped her gaze to the corridor's entryway and jumped.

There, peering back at her from around the doorframe, was Catra. She clutched her uniform shirt and headpiece against her chest. Her eyes were round and unblinking, her expression was stunned.

"Catra!" Scorpia gasped. "What are you–"

But Catra was already fleeing back up the stairs. Scorpia lunged forward, ready to chase her down, then stopped.

She could think of nothing she could say or do to make what had just happened less awful.

So she let Catra go.


	13. Chapter 13

It would be three days before Catra emerged from hiding.

When she did, she stepped right back into the fray as if she had never left. Gone was the vulnerable and heartbroken creature Scorpia had witnessed. Even though her various wounds still hadn't finished healing, she wore them like badges of honour, holding her head high as she ran drills and barked orders.

The night of Adora's break-in, Scorpia eventually returned to her room and found it empty. She wasn't surprised by this, and although it pained her, she left Catra alone in the days that followed. Then, when Catra did finally surface, there never seemed to be a good time for the two of them to talk. Scorpia figured Catra was likely avoiding her, and she didn't blame her. In fact, she was avoiding Catra too. After days of thinking about nothing else, Scorpia still wasn't sure what she'd say even if the opportunity presented itself.

Almost a week after Catra returned to active duty, Scorpia found herself in a familiar position. Though the day had been long and challenging, there was still a backlog of paperwork that needed attention. Scorpia volunteered to put in the extra hours to get the task done – she was getting the hang of the busy work, plus it gave her an excuse to work alone for a while. Catra had agreed to the arrangement with a simple nod and nothing more.

Scorpia couldn't deny that the distance between them hurt. When she presented Adora with the ultimatum, making her choose between her cause or Catra, she couldn't have known this was how it would end. But she couldn't blame Catra for pulling away, and if given the chance to do it all again, Scorpia knew she wouldn't change a thing.

She was down to the last stack of files–probably another couple hours worth of work at least–and she could see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was faint and flickering, but it was there. Tension had settled across her shoulders after so much time spent hunched over, and she was inwardly grateful the rest of her job didn't demand this much time at a desk.

"Still at it, huh?"

The unexpected, velvety drawl of Catra's voice in her ear made Scorpia jump, sending her clawful of papers scattering. Between Catra's feline stealth and her own bleary-eyed focus, Scorpia hadn't realized she wasn't alone. She twisted in her seat and froze, finding Catra standing directly behind her, blinking impassively.

"Uh, almost done," Scorpia said with a nervous laugh. After more than a week without speaking, Catra's sudden proximity was nearly overwhelming.

Catra reached around Scorpia and fanned the remaining files across the desk with a swipe of her fingers. "Is this all that's left?"

Scorpia nodded, her ability to form complex sentences temporarily forgotten.

"Leave it," Catra said. "Finish them tomorrow."

"Oh, I don't mind finishing them now. It'll just take another hour. Actually, probably two. Maybe even three. But that's all right!"

Catra raised an eyebrow. "Scorpia, I'm trying to give you the night off."

"You– what? Really?" Scorpia blinked up at her in disbelief. "Wow, thank you."

"Don't mention it." Catra stooped and collected the fallen papers. When she handed them back to Scorpia, she couldn't seem to meet her eyes. "It's honestly the least I can do."

Scorpia clutched the papers, creasing them to the point of near perforation in her strong grip. She could feel a furious flush spreading across her face, but there wasn't much she could do about it. "You don't have to do anything for me, Catra."

"Listen, I'm bad enough at this stuff as it is, so please just let me thank you without you making it weird." Catra's tail flicked around her ankles, her hands were balled into fists and pressed tightly against her thighs. Scorpia opened her mouth to speak, and then promptly thought better of it when Catra's eyes at last flicked up to hers.

Every reaction that flashed across Scorpia's mind fell into a category of things Catra would have likely classified as "making it weird", so instead she just smiled.

"You're welcome, Wildcat."

Catra cleared her throat. "Right. So... do you want to hang out or whatever?"

Once more, Scorpia found herself forgetting how words worked. When she tried to reply, all she could muster was a strange, questioning squeak that left both of them flustered.

Catra looked like she wanted to crawl out of her skin with mortification. All her regular grace fell away only to be replaced with awkward fidgeting and an inability to speak in complete thoughts.

"I just thought– You know, that time we were in the Northern Reach. You asked me if we could hang out sometime? And we never did. So I was thinking maybe, if the offer still stands–"

"Yes!" Scorpia leapt to her feet, beaming so hard her face hurt already. "Absolutely. A thousand times, yes!"

A heartbeat passed between them. For a split second, Scorpia worried she had made it weird after all. And then the tension in Catra's body melted. With a single step, she closed the distance between them, wrapped her arms around Scorpia's waist, and hugged her.

"Thank you, Scorpia," Catra murmured. "For everything."

Scorpia encircled Catra's shoulders and held her in an embrace that was strong and tender all at once.

"You deserve it," she said, giving her a gentle squeeze. "You know that, right?"

"Not yet." Catra laid her head against Scorpia's chest and, though she couldn't see it, Scorpia could hear a hint of a smile in Catra's voice. "But I'm doing my best."

– E N D –


End file.
